Corn-planter.



A. P. STARR.

CORN PLANTER.

APPLICATION FILED MAB.. 6.` 1912.

1,057,985, Patented Apr. 1, 1913.

g SHEETS-SHEET 1.

l A. F. STARR.

CORN PLANTBBZ. APPLICATION FILED MAE. 1912.

Patented Apr. 1,l 1913 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESES l/ fi; l y/ AESTARR COE-N PLANTER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 6, 1912.

"1 .057,985, atemie Ama l, i913;

' ATTHN EVS `To all whom t may concern arnn'r OFFICE.

ARTHUR FISK STARR, F LA MESA, CALIFORNIA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

conn-PLANTER.

Patented Apr. 1, 1913.

Application 'led March 6, 1912. Serial No. 681,897. l

Be it known `,that I, ARTHUR F.- STARR, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of La. Mesa, in the county of San Diego and State ofCalifornia, have invented a new and Improved Corn-Planter, of which the 4following is a full, `clear, and exact description.

The object of the invention is to provide a new and improved corn planter,.arranged to plant or drill'a plurality of rows at one time,` 'to properly prepare the ground for the reception of the seeds, and to subsequently cover the seed to vinsure ready. germination thereof.

.For the purpose mentioned use is made of ay frame made in sections, consisting of a middle frame and side frames pivoted to the said middle frame, traction wheels spaced eq'uidist'ances apart and .journaled on the said main frame, one on each side frame and two on the middle frame, draft means con-- nected with said middle frame, a seat carried by the said middle frame, seed boxes supported onthe said mainframe in front of the traction wheels, shovels or furrow openers supported from the said main frame in front of and below the said seed boxes to form furrows for the seeds to drop in, and covering means Carried by the said shovels -to cover the urrows 'in front of the traction wheels.

A practical embodiment of the invention is `represented in the accompanying drawings'forming a part of this specification, in

n which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding' parts in all the views.

= Fig. 2 is afrearelevation of the same with Figure 1 1s a plan view of the planter;

the seat and its support omitted; Fig. 3 is an 'enlarged transverse sectionof the same 'on the line 8 3 o f Fig. l; Fig. 4 isan enlarged section of the seed-containing vessel ysimilar view of the seed box; F ig. 6 is an enlarged plan view of the valve in the bot` tom of the seed box for controlling the disf charge of the'seed from the seedv box to the ground; Fig'. 7 is an enlarged sectional elevation of part' of the corn planter, the section' being on thevline 7 7 of Fig. l; Fig.

8 is a simil-ar view of another part of thel i corn planter, the section being on the line 8 8 of Fig. l; F ig. 9 is an enlarged sectional elevation of one of the joints between the frame sections taken on line 9 9 ot Fig. 1; Fig. 10 is an enlarged sectional wheels showing one operating cam for the seed-feedingdevice taken on line l0 10 oi Fig. 3. The corn lanter is mounted on a main according to the distance between adjav cent rows in which the corn or other seed is to be planted, the said traction wheels serving to support the main frame A and the parts carried thereby, at the same time forming' covering wheels to press down the ground in the rows after the seedis dropped in the furrows, as hereinafter more fully ex- 'plained By the arrangement described the side frames 'A2 and A3' are free to swing up and down independent of the middle frame A so that the traction wheels can readily travel over uneven ground for the traction wheels to yfulfil the functions above mentioned. The middle section A of the main frame A is provided with a draft device D vof any approved construction for drawing the machine over the field, and the middle section A also supports a seat E for the operator, the seat being` mounted on arms E extending forwardly and fulcrumed on the middle section A', the arms being' engaged by links E2 adapted to be hooked onto hooks vE3 located one above the other on vertical portions or supports forming part of the middle section A of the main frame A.

Thus by the arrangement. described the seat E can be raised or lowered as desired by engaging" a loop E2 with a hook E3 higher up or lower down as the case may be.

In the front of each traction Wheel C, C, C2 and C3 is arranged a seed box F. These .seed boxes are in a series of which the seed boxes F in front of the traction wheels C and C are attached to the middle section A of the frame A, while the seed boxes F in front of the traction wheels C2 and C3 are Asecured to the frame sect-ions A2 and A3, re-

V plan view of a portion of one of the traction 'spectively ln front of each of the seed section A', A2 or A3. From the lower; rear end of each cutter Gr extends rearwardly and downwardly a shovel H, terminating atl the sides in mold boards H bent inwardly toward eac-h other at their forward 'ends to engage the sidesof the cutter G to which the mold boards H are fastened by` bolts- H2 or other `fastening devices. The mold boards H extend vbeyond the rear end of each shovel H and on the inner faces ofthe mold boards H for the 4shovel H are secured the downwardly and rearwardly extending. covering plates l curved sldewise, as indi-y cated in Fig. 3, to cover up the furrow made' by .the Vshovel Hafter the seed has been dropped into the furrow, from the correv sponding seed box F. The mold boards H for each shovel H are connected with each other at the top 'by a cross bar H3 connected with the lower end ofy a. link J connected with a link J" by a rule joint J2 to limit the swinging-motion of the links J and J one relative to the other, as will be `readily un-y derstood by reference to the full and dottedy lines shown in Fig. 3. The upper ends of the links J' for the mold boards and cutters in front of the Vtraction wheels C, C2 are secured to a shaft K, and the upper ends of the links J for the mold-boards and cutters in front of the traction wheels C and C3 are similarly attached to the shaftK, and the said shafts l are mounted to turn in hollow members A5 forming parts of the sections AQ. A and A, A3 of the main frame VA.k Each of the shafts K (see Fig. 8) is made in sections and the sections are pivotally connected with each other at K' at the joints A4 -aonnecting the section A2- with the section A', and the section A3 withthe is pressed on by a spring L coiled around the shaft and fastened with one end to the hollow member A5, while the other end of the spring is attached to the corresponding link J. By the arrangement described the springs L tend to hold the links J, J in an uppermost position, and with itthe corresponding mold board H', .plow H and cutter G. Fach of the shafts K is provided at its inner end with a handle N extending adjacent the corresponding side of the seat E, so as to be within convenient reach of the operator seated on the seat E.

Each seed box F is provided with a bottom F (see Fig. 5) having spaced apertures F2, F3, and on the top of the said bottom F is mounted to slide a valve O provided with two openings O and O2` adapted to alternately register with the apertures F2 and F3 spass through the openin in the bottom F. The valve O is provided with a recess O3 for the reception of the I lower end of a lever P, fulcrumed at P to thev inner face of the rear side of the seed box F, and the upper end of the lever P terminates in an angular oifset or a pin P2 extending through an elongated slot F*-v formed in the rear side of the seed box F.

The offset Pg engages a shifting rod Q j.'

mounted to slide in a hollow member A forming part of the main frame'A, the

shifting rod Q being made in sections pivotally connected with eachother at Q at the joints A4 connecting the side fraInesA2 and A? with the middle. frame A', as previously explained. The shifting rod Q, (see Fig) is provided with a yoke R extending out.- side of the member A, and the said yoke R straddles the traction wheel 0^ which is pro-` I vided at the inner face of its rimv with cams S extending alternately on opposite sides of the traction wheel C so as to alternately shift Vthe yoke R to the right or to theleft and with it the shifting rod Q, to impart a. simultaneous swinging motion tothe several levers P with a view to shift the valves O over the bottoms F of the seed boxes F. The cams-,S are pivoted to the rirnof the Ywheel C at S intermediate adjacent spokes C", and any one of the cams S can be'swung inward into. a dormantpos1t1on,as shown Y infFig. 10, or outward into `an angular position for engagement with the yoke R, the

cam S then resting against one of the spokes C4, as will be readily` understood by refer- `enceto the4 dotted lines in Fig. 10. It is understood that whenionly two cams are used they are the ones located diametrically opposite each other, and are swung outward into active position on opposite sides of the traction wheel C',4 and 1f more cams are used they .are similarly swung outward in pairs to permitjof giving any desired num-f ber of oscillations't-o the valve O on each A j revolution of the traction wheel C. section A', and each of the shaft sections K Tithin each of the seed boxes F is adapted to be placed a seed-containing vessel TY ,provided in its bottom with a central opening T adapted to register with the opening AO or O2 in central position at the time, 'so

that the grain contained in the vessel "can T into the corresponding opening O', 2 to ll the same y immediately prior to imparting an oscillamoves in register with the corresponding opening F2 or F 3 toallow the seed cony tained in the opening O yor O2 yto. drop through the opening F2 or F3 down into the furrow made by the shovel H.

It is to be understood'that the seed drops immediately in the rear of the shovel H and in front ofthe covering plates I, so that the seeds after being dropped into the furrow 'are covered up with ground moved inward Vt0 be closed by a valve U held on the lower end of a lever U fulcrumed at U2 on one side of the vessel T, and the upper end of the lever U is provided with a handle U3 under the control of the operator for im! parting a swinging motion to the lever U with a View to move the valve U into an `open or a closed position relative to the opening T.

It is to be understood that when the vessel T is emptied it can be readily removed from the seed box F and refilled with seed, with the valve U in closed position, and then the filled vessel T is returned to the seed box F and the valve U is opened by the operator pushing the handle ll3 to one sideso that the grain can pass through the opening T into the corresponding opening O or O2 of the valve O, as previously ex plained. The seed box F is normally closed by ahinged cover F5, which can be readily opened whenever it is desired to remove an empty vessel T from tlie seed box F or replacing the filled vessel T in the seed box F.

`When the machine is drawn forward over the field by a team attached to the draft device D then t-he tract-ion wheel C actuates the several valves 0 to allow the seed to drop intolthe furrows formed by the shovel H, in advance of which travels the cutter G to loosen the ground.

It is to be understood that the shovel H forms a furrow while the mold boardsH .serve to move stones, stumps and the like away from the furrows, and the covering '-plates cover up the seeds, which are subseq iently pressed downward by the traction wheels C, C', C2 and C3.

By the operator manipulating the handles N the furrow may be given more or less depth, as desired, according to the nature of the soil.

The machine shown and described is very simple and durable in construction, and four rows of seed can be planted at once, and the seed-containing vessels T can be readily removed and reiilled whenever it is necessary to do so.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A planting machine provided with a fixed seed box having an apertured bottom, a valve movable over the said bottom and having openings adapted to alternately register with the apertures of the said bottom, a vessel for containing the 'seed and adapted to be set into the said receptacle, the vessel having an opening in its bottom, and a manually-controlled valve operating in conjunction with the apertured bottom of the said vessel.

2. A plant-ing machine provided with a fixed' seed box .ha-ving an apertured bottom, a valve movable on the saidbottom and having openings adapted to alternately 'register with the apertures ofthe said bottom, means for automatically moving said valve, avessel t'or containing the seed and adapted to be set into the saidreceptacle the vessel having an opening in its bottom, and a manually controlled valve operating 'in conjunction with the apertured bottom of said vessel.

3. A planting machine comprising a wheeled frame, seed boxes supported on the frame, valves controlling the discharge of seed Jfrom said boxes, an operating member having connection with the said vvalves for actuating the same, actuating members carried by one of the frame wheels and independently movable to and vfrom operative positions, and a member carried by the operating member and with which the said actuating members are engageable when in operative positions.

4. A planting machine comprising a wheeled frame, seed boxes supported on the pendently movable to an operative position ywhereby to engage the said yoke and shift the operating rod alternately in opposite directions.

ln testimony whereof I have signed my name tothis specication in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ARTHUR FLSK STARR. "Witnesses:

EDGAR A. LUCE, Mrs. H. D. MACDONALD. 

